That was enough, and he pulled away from her.
Justine watched him, amazed by how he had reacted to her. After he calmed, she kissed his moist lips and rested against his pounding chest. Her words softly filled the night air. “Was it good for you, Darrius?”
“Beyond reality. Was it good for you?”
“Anything with you is good for me.”
“It was awesome. Lie against me. Let’s just stay here, still, quiet, listening to our hearts, our minds, souls.” His lips met with the softness of her cheek. “We really are one, aren’t we?”
“Something I hadn’t planned on was being with a man this soon. But then came you and I couldn’t help myself.”
“I’m glad.” He sighed and relaxed against the smooth cave wall. “It’s been a long day, but a good one.”
“Indeed it has been.” The back of her mind was still cluttered with things that had gone wrong that day; being scared by the Famine dancer, not being able to take as many pictures as she had wanted to, going against the wishes of a man she adored. All of what she had accomplished with her photos and falling for Darrius could have been lost by one stupid move she simply couldn’t forget. Her little day excursion up Suicide Mountain would remain forever a secret, yet something about the mountain still wouldn’t let her rest.
13
SHOPPERS PARADISE
Friday Morning
Justine awakened the next morning still wrapped in Darrius’s arms. They had fallen asleep kissing and holding one another. Their new love was so amazing, so earth shattering, that nothing else mattered more than being together. That is what carried her through the night, and that is what awakened her to a new day surrounded by the love of a man.
In the glints of an early sun coming in from the cave opening, she smiled a smile of total contentment. Normally the idea of wearing the same dress and panties and having unbrushed teeth would have made her cringe. This time it meant the culmination of the best night ever. She stirred in his arms, willing to stay right where she was, seeing the hot New Mexico sun set the sky ablaze. Yes, now she knew what living and loving was really about.
Her barely audible sigh caused him to stir; he soon awakened with the same syrupy, heaven-filled smile. Her hair was tangled around his fingers. He slowly caressed the silky strands of a woman who had again made her own magic with him. “I can’t believe we slept here all night. I don’t even remember falling asleep.”
Her voice cracked with the newness of the day. “That’s a good thing. It means you, too, were into what we were doing.”
“Well, as much as I would love to stay here and continue doing just that, we’d better get a move on before security comes around.”
“I thought you had access here.”
“I do, but they don’t expect me to ever stay the night.” He helped her to her feet and kissed the tip of her warm nose. “Actually, this scene would be better finished off in your lovely hotel room on a nice big bed, don’t you think?”
“We could go back to sleep.”
“Or do other things.”
“You’re intent on wearing me out, aren’t you?”
His arms wrapped tighter around her, their lips briefly met. “Indeed, I am.”
* * *
It was high noon and Justine again awoke next to her lover, but this time their warm, sexually stimulated bodies huddled under a damp sheet—slick from lovemaking. Instead of awakening him, she stared from the top of his jet hair, moved to his fantastically toned torso, to knees partly spread exposing a shaft that filled her effortlessly and endlessly.
How lucky she felt to be a part of this man’s life after living a life filled with Mr. Nobodies. A lot of Mr. Nobodies, and that was the sad part. There had been men in her life, yet her job was the only thing that made her feel her existence mattered. Being defined by her job hadn’t been what she wanted, but it was all she had other than her family and the few true friends she’d managed to hang on to.
She looked over at his closed eyes again and smiled. This stranger, this total stranger, drifted into her life and gave her air again. He was a deep breath of incredibly fresh air, and she couldn’t breathe in enough. Touching his golden, damp skin electrified her to the point of needing him inside her again. But she didn’t awaken him. He was exhausted, exhausted from his work and their sex life—but what a good sleep it made for.
She left him on the bed and headed straight for the shower. Funny, showering was the last thing they thought about upon entering her room. Snatching off every scrap of clothing and diving heart first into bed was the only thing on their minds. They partook for hours.
When she returned to the bedroom wrapped in a thick bath towel, he was sitting up on the bed, wrapped in the sheet. “Why didn’t you join me? We had such fun showering together before.”
“We all need our privacy, and I assumed you needed yours, you know, to clear your head. I sure needed to clear mine.”
Her eyes softened. “Dredging up those old memories of the dance didn’t help, did it?”
“You needed to know, and I’m actually glad it’s in the open. It’s like a weight off my chest, though it still happened no matter how much I wish it hadn’t.”
She sat next to him, her towel brushing against his skin. “Then let’s do something else fun today to take your mind off all those bad memories.”
“I can’t. I have to meet a buyer at the Zuni location by two.”
“Can you reschedule?”
“Not really. Besides, Friday is the best day to see what’s been collected over the week. He’s known to locate rare finds, things I know the store could make a mint on. He’s the one who found your bracelet. It was actually at an estate sale. One of New Mexico’s most famous Pueblo women, an artist, owned the bracelet, having purchased it somewhere in Mesoamerica only months before her death.”
Justine studied the bracelet hanging from her wrist; she had not taken it off since he had put it on her wrist. “I didn’t know it had such a history. Is it Toltec, Mayan—”
“Looks more Aztec, actually.”
“Really? What kind of art did the woman make?”
“Sculptures. She was famous for her work with underworld pieces.”
“Underworld?”
